Aft Lights Trip Breaker in my 320 Tournament

[KEEP'R WET]

When I turn my aft lights on via the breaker panel in my 1994 320 tournament, I can see the current draw is 10 amps! Whoa! No way this can be right. Then if I try to run something else like my head or something it will cause the aft lights breaker to trip. Where should I start looking for a solution to this? Has anyone encountered this problem???

[Mazlin]

Are these the 2 floodlights that lite the rear deck area?

[KEEP'R WET]

I apologize. I mean the aft cabin lights. The lights inside the salon area of the cabin. I'm thinking maybe a bad ground or something. I mean, to draw 10 amps for some simple little tube lights is crazy, so something has to be radically wrong with the circuit, but not being an electrician (and too cheap to hire one! lol) I don't really know the most likely place to start looking

[chick]

The aft (cabin) lights are an antiquated system that could have a short or issue in any of the 8 circuit boards or fixtures. Each fixture has a 12v pos and neg lead attached to it. I would start by pulling the bulbs out 1 at a time and see if the draw reduces. Unfortunatley you may hve to cut the wires at each fixture to isolate the problem. I have replaced all of mine with LED light strips that draw less voltage and have less chance of shorting out. What concerns me about your problem is that the "head" system runs off of its own breaker and should not cause the "Aft cabin lights" breaker to pop.

[witeagle]

The aft (cabin) lights are an antiquated system that could have a short or issue in any of the 8 circuit boards or fixtures. Each fixture has a 12v pos and neg lead attached to it. I would start by pulling the bulbs out 1 at a time and see if the draw reduces. Unfortunatley you may hve to cut the wires at each fixture to isolate the problem. I have replaced all of mine with LED light strips that draw less voltage and have less chance of shorting out. What concerns me about your problem is that the "head" system runs off of its own breaker and should not cause the "Aft cabin lights" breaker to pop.

I just finished replacing 6 of the 10 flourecent tube lights with LED strips. 4 more to go and it's well worth getting rid of those old style flourecent tube lights!

It's a piece of cake to do also!

[KEEP'R WET]

What led light strips did you choose? Where can I find them and how much are they each? Thanks!

[chick]

What led light strips did you choose? Where can I find them and how much are they each? Thanks!

Call Jared at Rebel design and tell him you are looking for the same LED strips that Chick bought from Columbia Marine for his Luhrs 320. They will have double sided sticky tape and fit right where the flourescent tubes went in your fixtures. Remove the bulbs, glue in the LED strips with sticky tape (provided) and connect the red and black wires from the old light fixture directly to the LED strips with butt connectors. same light output / less amperage draw.

http://www.rebel-designs.com/

[chick]

I think they were around #25 each.

[KEEP'R WET]

Ok. I know exactly which lights you are talking about. But eBay has them for 1.99 each!!! I love my EBay! Thanks Chick

[witeagle]

I bought a water proof LED strip roll (15 feet) for about 35 bucks from E-Bay.

You can cut the strip every 3 LEDs and peel back the membrane to reach the solder points. Solder on a pair of leads, heat shrink over the wire and the edge of the LED strip.

I removed the old fixtures and installed a new plastic strip in it's place with the LED on it.